A federal judge Tuesday dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking Arizona’s unredacted voter rolls, ruling the department has no legal right to obtain the records it has demanded from states nationwide.
The decision means DOJ is now zero out of six in its lawsuits aiming to obtain states’ voter rolls. And it marks one of the most significant defeats yet — rejecting not just how the department made its demands, but its authority to make the demands at all.
The case centers on DOJ’s attempt to force Arizona Secretary of State Adrian Fontes (D) to turn over the state’s full voter registration list, which includes sensitive personal information such as birthdates, addresses, driver’s license and partial Social Security numbers.
Fontes refused, citing privacy protections under state and federal law.
“This moment is a win for voter privacy. I will never comply with illegal requests that put Arizona voters in harms way,” Fontes said in a statement following Tuesday’s ruling. “I was charged with protecting the personal identifying information of every Arizona voter and will not waver in the face of threats. I want to thank my legal team and Attorney General Mayes and her staff for stepping up and winning this moment for Arizona voters.”
In a sharply reasoned opinion, district judge Susan Brnovich, appointed by President Donald Trump, sided with Arizona and dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning it cannot be refiled.
DOJ claimed it was entitled to Arizona’s statewide voter registration lists (SVRL) under the Civil Rights Act of 1960. The court concluded it is not.
“The Court will dismiss the Attorney General’s claim with prejudice because amendment would be legally futile,” Brnovich wrote. “Arizona’s SVRL is not a document subject to request by the Attorney General.”
That finding strikes at the core of the DOJ’s legal theory, which relies on a provision of the law requiring states to preserve and provide certain election-related records upon request.
The judge found that provision applies only to documents submitted by voters — such as registration forms — not statewide databases created and maintained by election officials.
The court also warned that adopting the DOJ’s interpretation would create conflicts with other federal election laws, including the National Voter Registration Act and the Help America Vote Act, both of which require states to regularly update and maintain voter rolls.
The ruling builds on a growing string of losses for the DOJ, which has sued dozens of states that refused to provide voter data.
Courts in California, Oregon, Michigan, Massachusetts and Rhode Island have already dismissed similar cases, often focusing on procedural flaws in the department’s demands.
The Arizona decision goes further, effectively foreclosing DOJ’s ability to obtain statewide voter rolls under the statute it has been relying on.
